Vintage vehicles from the past are a good way to connect with a bygone era, and some of the connections are completely different from today’s vehicle experiences.
MyStarCollectorCar decided to showcase five ways a journey in an old relic is different from a modern driving experience.
Jim Sutherland
The first way to establish you are in a four-wheeled dinosaur is the smell of unburnt hydrocarbons. The main reason is modern gasoline is not digested very well in an aging internal combustion engine that needs a major tuneup and/or overhaul.
The net result is unburned fuel that produces a fragrant cloud and is channeled through a pre-catalytic convertor exhaust system, so there are no checks and balances for the engine fumes. The engine aroma will stick with you in your clothes and skin after a road trip, but fortunately it is not a disagreeable scent for most car guys.
The second noticeable factor in an old car is the wind noise, particularly when they have vent windows. The weatherstripping on vintage cars was barely adequate when the vehicles were new, let alone many decades later after the rubber has deteriorated to a significant degree.
The net result is loud conversations inside the old car will get even louder the faster the speeds in them. The good news is the retro ride road warrior adventures are well worth the extra decibels.
The third characteristic of an old car is its handling. A vintage ride that still has its factory steering and suspension requires a completely different driving philosophy because it lacks the precision of a modern vehicle. Terms like “slushy” and “vague” are common because a vintage car ploughs into a turn and does not have a precise feel during the process.
In fact, an old car will keep a driver on the edge of the seat, figuratively (and even literally) speaking, if it’s pushed beyond its limited engineering capabilities. The good news is the dinosaur driving experience will make most drivers better because there is no way you can stare vacantly at a cell phone while behind the wheel of one of these old war ponies. Consequently, you are required to pay attention to the road or crash while texting.
Which brings us to MyStarCollectorCar’s fourth truth about an old car: yesterday’s braking system. The entire program consisted of drums on every wheel and a fervent hope that you weren’t headed downhill on a long and steep winding road. The forecast of the day would be brake fade with a chance of total failure if the car had a single chamber master cylinder.
Nevertheless, some of today’s car guys have the right stuff to jump behind the wheel of an unaltered retro ride and hit the road because they are fearless and smart drivers.
The fifth and final addition to our list of memorable old car features is the three-on-the-tree manual transmission, a formerly common part of the program on old rides, but now banished to the dustbins of automotive history right beside Fred Flintstone’s foot-powered sedan. Mastery of a three-on-the-tree was a simple process in the past but now it is a lost art in our modern world of video game dexterity and a very loose grip on the real world.
Worn-out shift linkages in old cars require a special shifting finesse that can’t be found in video games and should be a requirement for today’s males who need to put way more check marks on their masculinity charts. These same guys also need to change a tire or oil to fully become men.
There you have it: MyStarCollectorCar’s list of five retro characteristics of an old car. And, in our terminally bland world of cookie cutter new age rides, a guy will be 76.8% cooler simply by owning a retro ride.
Jim Sutherland
BY: Jim Sutherland
Jim Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer whose work has been published by many major print and online publications. The list includes Calgary Herald, The Truth About Cars, Red Deer Advocate, RPM Magazine, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, Windsor Star, Vancouver Province, and Post Media Wheels Section.
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